Effect of louver angle on performance of heat exchanger with serpentine fins and flat tubes in frosting: Importance of experiments in periodic frosting

This paper presents the air-side pressure drop and overall heat transfer coefficient characteristics for serpentine-louvered-fin, microchannel heat exchanger in periodic frosting. It focuses on quantification of the effects of louver angle on heat transfer and pressure drop and on defrost and refrost times. Nine heat exchangers differing in louver angle and fin pitch (i.e. louver angle 15° to 39° and fin pitch 12 to 18 fpi) are studied. The face velocity was 3.5 m s⁻¹ and inlet air relative humidity of 70% and 80%. The major finding of this paper is seen in the proof that it is necessary to perform experiments in several consecutive cycles to be able to understand the situation in operation of the heat exchangers and that geometry that is the best in first frosting test does not stay the best in real operation where multiple consecutive frosting occurs.